Tuesday, September 23, 2003

"My Powerbook's sprung a leak!"

Since the release of the Powermac G5, the hot question on many Mac users minds has been "So what?! I want a Powerbook G5!"

Okay, so it's more of a demand than a question, but it's been in people's minds just the same. Here's the thing, Apple's been super-mysterious vague about any G5 Powerbook plans. True, Apple rarely reveals its plans ahead of time - especially with hardware - but even Steve Jobs has been telling the press about how uncertain Powerbook G5 development is.

The big obstacle in moving the G5 into a Powerbook is heat. Yes, IBM could probably churn out slower, cooler 970s, but that's only part of the problem. The G5 has to have an entire system built around it, and that's what winds up generating a lot of heat. Apple's Industrial Design team (led by Jonathan "Jobsy" Ive) has undoubtedly been putting a lot of effort into solving the heat problem, and according to this AppleInsider rumor they're currently looking into Liquid Cooling (say bye bye to one inch thick laptops!).

Two words of caution here:
1. This is a rumor.
2. If it's true, then it's probably just a prototype system Apple's toying around with (like all the amazing stuff in this book about the work of the Industrial Design Team).

Again, the two words are: rumor and prototype (brought to you by the letter H and the number 3).

Unless Apple has found a breakthrough in liquid cooling that allows it to be smaller and less expensive, odds are this is something we'll never see.

And for those of you who are considering waiting for the G5's arrival to buy a Powerbook, just be forewarned that Steve Jobs himself thinks that the end of 2004 is the earliest we'll see these 64-bit portables.

Personally, I'm scrapping together the cash for a 12" Powerbook. It might still be a G4, and it might still not have L3 cache, but...
Well, I'm buying one anyway.